Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (10 page)

             
When Harold got home he was too tired to do anything, even read.  So, he just undressed and turned off his light and then lay down in his bed.                            At first, Harold was only aware of total darkness.  He didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t in his room.

             
Then, the entire sky above him turned orange.  As he turned around, he looked more closely.  Far in the distance he could see an ocean.  He watched as the waters of the sea began rippling and he could see something coming from beneath the rolling waves.  It was difficult to perceive at first, but something surfaced.

             
And it was huge.

             
It was a gigantic, bearded man, and he rapidly grew in the distance, and he seemed to stretch from the ground to the sky.  He reached up with his hands, and appeared to hold up something that Harold couldn’t see clearly.  Harold looked around and he could see shadows coming to life all around him.  Slowly, the shadows took different forms, some looked like fighter-jets, and some looked like crows, and some looked like tanks, and some looked like a rat mixed with a monkey that walked like a man.

             
All of the shadows began flying towards the giant.  Harold wanted to see more, but found it hard to move.  Suddenly, he was lifted off the ground and the dark ground rushed beneath him as an invisible power pulled him across the terrain.  He stopped only when he reached the feet of the giant.  He looked up to see that the giant was holding up the sky itself, and the giant began walking toward the army of shadows, unafraid.

             
As the shadows converged on the giant, he let out a tremendous roar and released his grip on the heavens.  Harold saw a tear form in the orange sky, and pieces of it fell all around him.  The rip grew in size for several moments, and then eagles began pouring through it, screaming as they came to defend the giant from the shadow things.  Several of the eagles were larger than the others and they were solid white with burning orange eyes. 

             
The white eagles joined battle with the shadow forces, and as they looped in and around one another the eagles began breathing fire that consumed the shadows that came after them.  Many of the smaller eagles and shadows began flying around one another, fighting as the giant shook the sky, and pieces of it began falling on the shadows.  The giant roared and swept his hand through the shadows, knocking many of them to the ground.  Then he rose up his foot and stomped many of the tanks.  However, more shadows began coming to life, attacking the giant and his eagles.  But they did not stop fighting. 

             
In fact, the battle looked fairly even.

             
Then, the ground to the west began shaking.  A massive ocean wave rose in the east.  A fierce, howling wind blew in from the north.  Harold looked south, and saw that the entire horizon was on fire, and the fire was racing toward the battle between the shadow forces and the sky-holding giant and his eagles.  But the strangest thing was that there was a rat trap at Harold’s feet that continually snapped on a white rat with red eyes.

             
Dark clouds began forming around the battle, and soon lightning was covering the orange sky, and thunder was rattling everything around Harold.  As the lightning began hitting the shadow foes, Harold awoke with a stir.

             
Harold looked around, sweating.  He took several deep breaths.  It was still very dark outside.  It was the middle of the night, probably around two or three o’clock.  Harold rubbed his eyes and laid there for a few moments.  Then, he fell back into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 7

             
The sun had already risen when Harold woke up.  He felt great, but his old overalls felt even tighter than yesterday.  When he walked into the kitchen, he noticed that Aunt Nean, Cooper and Ollie were nowhere to be found.  Harold figured that they had gone to trade in the town circle since rations had been passed out the night before.  The circle was always packed the morning after the weekly meeting.  It was always a good time to barter for something you needed and there was almost always somebody who had whatever it was that you wanted.

             
He saw that Aunt Nean had left him a few biscuits and two pieces of bacon on the stove. 

             
“You don’t waste any time with your flour rations, do you, Aunt Nean,” Harold said aloud as he reached for them.

             
He was famished, but he forced himself to eat slowly, and the three biscuits satisfied his hunger somewhat.

             
As he walked to the barn, he noticed that Scape was nowhere to be found either.  He walked in the barn and saw that the mule was finishing off the last of five corn cobs, and he could see where it had already eaten some hay.

             
“I guess Cooper did this before they left,” Harold smiled.

             
The mule looked at him when he pulled the collar and bridle from the wall.  As he walked toward her, she pinned her head against the side of the barn.  Harold stopped and put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath.  He stood there for a few minutes, just thinking.

             
Then, he tried to slip the bridle over her ear.  She just pushed her head even harder into the side of the barn.  Harold was starting to get aggravated, and he began tugging and pulling on the mule.  She started braying, and he leaned back, pulling her head, and managed to slide the bit into her mouth in between brays.  He leaned over and slid the collar around her neck.  While he was hooking it, she bit him right on his butt.

             
Harold reflexively swung at the sudden pain.  A loud whack resounded in the barn, and she rattled the wall much harder than she should have, because not only was he off balance when he swung at her, but also he was in an odd position that didn’t give him much power.  Harold stood up quickly and backed up while rubbing his rear. 

             
He looked at the mule.  She was a little off balance herself.  She wobbled, and for a moment Harold thought she was going to fall.  Then, she shook her head as if to clear it.  When she seemed like she was better, he tugged on her bridle and she came along without much of a fuss.

             
As he exited the barn with her, he looked at the sky.  It was still early.  He walked a few steps and noticed that the mule had stopped.  He glanced at her and rolled his eyes.  He looked at the plow.  It was about twenty yards away, in the edge of the field.  Turning his eyes from her and back towards the field, he tightened his grip on the bridle and just leaned into it.  He felt some resistance, but the mule started walking again.

             
He trudged until he got to the plow.  Then he picked it up and turned to hitch it to the mule.  As he walked by the mule, he noticed that she was breathing rapidly.  He didn’t pay it much attention until he had finished hitching the collar.  Out of the corner of his eye, in the direction of the barn, he noticed that the dirt was torn up.

             
He looked at the barn.  There were two noticeable trails where the dirt had been torn up coming all the way from the barn.  He hadn’t noticed them when he was walking to the plow, then he thought about it. 
They weren’t here when I was walking to the plow.
  He couldn’t figure out what the two trails were, but they started at the barn.  He followed them with his eyes across the yard to where he was standing, or rather, where the mule was standing.  Dirt had accumulated around her hooves as if they were half-buried in the ground.  Harold stepped back and scratched his head.  This was very odd. 

             
Then, it struck him.  He had felt some resistance when they left the barn, then he leaned against it.

             
I drug her across the yard, she didn’t walk.  That’s why she’s breathing so hard.

             
Then he thought about when he had hit her.  He had nearly knocked her through the wall of the barn, and he had been completely off balance.  The mule was easily five or six times heavier than Harold.  Harold gulped.  He had just literally dragged the mule across the yard, and he wasn’t even breathing hard.  A High-Born could probably do that, but not a Low-Born. 

             
Harold shuddered inside.

             
He walked to the plow.  It was easy enough to lift with two hands, so long as you braced it on your hips properly.  He reached for it with one hand.  He gulped as he wrapped his fingers around it.  He slowly lifted it, expecting it be too heavy.  Amazingly, he felt no more weight on his arm than if he had lifted an empty water pail.  He looked at the plow.

             
The entire piece was off the ground. 

             
He moved his arm back and forward.  The plow still felt incredibly light, much lighter than it should have been. 
This is impossible,
Harold thought. 
I must be dreaming.
  He put down the plow and looked around, hoping that no one was watching.  He didn’t see anyone.  He breathed a sigh of relief, and tried to make himself wake up. 

             
But he didn’t wake up.

             
He walked to the well and pumped some water into the pail.  He splashed it into his face, and he still didn’t wake up.  Harold pumped some more water, and then took a drink.  Then, he pinched himself.  He was not in a dream—this had really just happened.  Yesterday, he was on fire, and disappearing.  Today, he could drag a 1,000 pound mule across the yard as easily as he could have dragged Maggie. 

             
He stood by the well for several minutes, just absorbing the gravity of the situation.  The High-Born would likely experiment on him if they discovered what he could do.  They would certainly kill him.  They did not like any type of threat whatsoever.  Despite these new abilities, Harold was terrified.

             
He got up and walked to the plow.  He picked it up, and gave the mule a light tap.  Thankfully, she started walking and Harold directed her towards Jim’s field, but he found it difficult to think as he walked.  In fact, it seemed to him that his mind was completely blank.  It was absolutely surreal.

             
Jim only lived a few houses down from him, and he soon arrived at his allotment of land.  In short order, Harold was plowing.  After he finished the second row, his thoughts seemed clearer, and he decided to try something.  He leaned into the plow, pushing hard.

             
The plow slid through the ground much more easily than he had expected and he ran into the mule’s rear end.  She stumbled forward, nearly running, but he pulled back on her.  She stopped in her tracks, leaning against his backward pull.  He relaxed and lightly popped her.  She complied and began plowing again.

             
“Well, at least plowing will be a cinch now,” Harold whispered, and he even allowed a smile to come across his face.  “Guess you were right, Ollie.  Tiger-Man and Wolf-Man probably aren’t as strong as me.”

             
He looked around, carefully.  Henry was the only person in sight, and his back was to Harold.

             
“Yahh, mule, yahh!” Harold said as he popped her with the bridle.

             
Harold pressed hard on the plow as he broke into a light jog.  He couldn’t believe it.  The ground was splitting like he was pushing a stick through water.  He bumped the mule with the plow, and she flinched and began running.  Harold smiled as he began chasing her, dirt, grass and the occasional stone flying all around him.  He ran to the end of the row, and pulled back on the reins.  The mule stopped just as suddenly as he did.

             
He looked around. 

             
Henry’s back was still turned.  He popped the mule again, and took off, this time he bumped the mule twice.  When he got to the end of the row, she was breathing fiercely, and he was even winded slightly.  After just a few breaths, he was ready to go again, but the mule was still breathing fiercely.  He looked around and saw some children across the way pointing at him, but they were quite a distance away.  He saw what looked like a woman coming out of the back door of the house.  The young ‘uns were pointing toward him, and the woman shielded her eyes from the sun and looked at him.  Harold just began slowly plowing, and in just a few seconds, he glanced in that direction.

             
She was nowhere to be seen and Jim’s back was still turned.

             
“Yahhh, mule,” Harold said, laughing.

             
Harold practically sprinted this time. 

             
The mule could barely stay ahead of him.  He bumped her five or six times before he finished the row.  He quickly made the turn, and ran the full length of the field again.  He checked the young ‘uns who had been looking at him.  They were jumping up and down pointing at him.  The woman came out of the back door, shielded her eyes from the sun, and looked toward him again.  She looked back at the children and pointed at them, and then popped the biggest one on her butt twice, and walked back in the house.  He looked at Henry to see that he had turned his mule and was now in a position that he could easily see him.